The Hottest Coldest Being Since That One Icy Day
by Alley Cat Sunflower
Summary: Jack finally has what he's wanted all his life- kids believe in him- but a new problem has arisen: the girls won't leave him alone. T for reasons even though I could probably get away with K-plus. I do not own Rise of the Guardians! If I did, Jack Frost would be mine… (Not a Jack/Tooth story!)


If Jack Frost had to listen to one more marriage proposal, he was going to freeze the whole world and have done with it.

He'd been ignored for three centuries before becoming a Guardian and then, gradually, kids started seeing him. Jamie and his friends must have been the ones spreading the word, as the news spiraled outward from their town until children from the farthest reaches of Earth knew who and what he was. He had finally achieved what he had wanted his whole life: to be believed in.

Unfortunately, this had brought on an unforeseen problem: the girls he met kept on falling in love with him. He didn't even know why. He was just a three-hundred-sixteen-year-old guy with no body heat who controlled the wintry weather, as far as he was concerned. But that apparently didn't matter to the horde of little girls, chasing him everywhere and constantly asking him to marry them.

His responses had become colder and colder. First, "I'm not the marrying kind, and besides, pretty girls like you have lots of other options"; then, "I'm over three hundred years older than you, and that puts me kind of out of your league", and finally, "None of you are my type". Jack knew he was treading on thin ice, as it were, by potentially hurting his charges' feelings… but how else could he escape?

He yelped as the Tooth Fairy hovered before him, almost falling off the wire on which he balanced. "Tooth! Is everything okay?" he asked, to cover up his alarm, giving her a lopsided and probably guilty smile. She _was _back 'in the field' again, after all, now that she had realized how much she had missed it.

"I couldn't collect a few of the teeth," admitted Tooth, with a peculiar tinge of accusation in her voice. "Their owners were still awake, crying. Over _you_, Jack."

Annoyance welled up in Jack's stomach. "What am I supposed to do, marry them all? I can't say I'll marry them and then break my promise! And I am _not _going to tie myself down like that," he added as an afterthought. "Especially not to them." _I'm only three hundred sixteen years old! I'm too young for this._

"You didn't used to have that attitude," laughed Tooth, smiling knowingly and sitting on the wire across from him. "My fairies tell me that when you were Jack Oswald, you knew _exactly_ how charming you could be. You asked the merchant's daughter to give you an extra cup of molasses in exchange for a kiss, then ran out on her instead of doing it." She sighed. "You were on the naughty list _long_ before you became Jack Frost."

"Really?" asked Jack curiously. "What else did I—" He shook his head to stop himself. "That doesn't matter," he muttered, though heat flushed his pale cheeks. "I've changed a little, in case you haven't noticed. And I'm not going to say I'll marry them if I won't!" Jack sat down stubbornly on the wire, freezing it unconsciously; Tooth leapt up nervously and hovered in front of him.

"It wasn't _all _bad, Jack," she said, placing a gentle and reassuring hand on his shoulder. "One of my fairies said you got in a fight with a boy who threatened the mayor's daughter, and knocked his tooth out in her defense."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Does this story have a moral?"

"I'm just saying, Jack, you don't give yourself credit for how… _chivalrous_ you can be." Tooth smiled at him shyly. "Be kind. Don't marry them," she added, a little too bossily, and Jack smirked, remembering that she too liked him. "…If you don't want to," she amended. "But don't shoot them down, either." The Tooth Fairy flew higher up, preparing to leave, but she glanced back at Jack, which might have been a mistake.

Giving Tooth his best smile, Jack stood up on the wire. "Why do they all fall for me, Tooth?" he asked, leaning against his staff. "I can't give them any warmth. In fact, I'm about as cold as they come. I've got nothing they could possibly want, so why do they chase _me_?"

"Oh, Jack," sighed Tooth, with a knowing grin. "You've never been naïve, so don't play innocent with me. I think we both know… they all think you're hot."

**((I hope the fic did the title justice. It's a great title, after all.))**


End file.
